Close Enough to Touch
by LightsAfterDark
Summary: A fic about Carlisle and Esme and how they first met in 1911.
1. Chapter 1

**Close Enough to Touch**

**Hey all! This is my fic about Carlisle and Esme and how they first met. I really love this couple because they are the sweetest ones in the Twilight series, in my humble opinion. Hope you enjoy my story! All the credit goes to Steph Meyer!**

"She should be fine," said a quiet female voice, that sixteen year old Esme could barely make out. "She fractured her shin and broke her wrist but bones can heal."

Esme couldn't really recall how or why she was sitting in a hospital bed, aching all over. Flashes of what had happened came back to her, slowly at first. She remembered going outside only to see her cat, Minnie, up in a , she remembered climbing up after her. But after that, her memory was lost.

"Esme, how do you feel?" the voice was clearly that of her mother.

Esme rubbed her eyes and tried to focus. The room around her was swimming. All the walls were white, and it was a little scary. She'd never been in a hospital before. Was this what they looked like?

Her eyes could barely make out the blurry silhouettes of two women gathered around her cramp bed. She suddenly felt a slice of pain shoot up her right leg, and she grabbed it with a small yelp, embarrassed.

"Oh dear!" the woman who she guessed was a nurse exclaimed. "Try not to move that leg, dear. The doctor just had it wrapped up."

"Will I be able to walk?" Esme immediately wondered out loud, sounding like a worried little child. She winced.

"Of course you will," the nurse laughed. "But not for a ...while."

Esme frowned at the cryptic response. Her mother patted her on the shoulder. "I don't know why you decided to climb that tree, Esme! Minnie is perfectly capable of jumping down on her own. Cats don't need rescuing."

Esme rolled her eyes, wishing she could tell her mother how wrong that information was. Minnie was a scardy-cat if there ever was one. If Esme hadn't climbed up after her, she wouldn't have ever come back down.

And now she had a fractured leg to show for it.

Blast! That cat was always getting her into trouble!

"Well," her mother sighed. "I'm going to tell your father and uncles that you're doing just fine."

"Just fine?" Esme mumbled ungratefully under her breath as her mother walked out of the room. Surely she was anything but just fine. She was going to be bedridden for who knows how long!

The nurse smiled at her before she left the room with her mother, but Esme could only pout. That nurse didn't know the half of it! She didn't have a leg that tingled with pain every time she moved it, and she didn't have to worry about lying in bed for days because of a brutal injury!

Esme looked around the room, hating the feeling of being all alone in this strange place. It smelled strange, like medicine and cold things. She didn't like it.

She stared at her leg and puffed out a breath of air that caused her bangs to fluff up on her forehead. "Hospitals are awful places," she grumbled.

A soft male laughter met her ears from across the room, making her jump. The sound was hauntingly beautiful, but she had no idea where it was coming from. She glanced around in concern. "Hello?" she whispered. "Is someone there?"

"Over here," the male voice answered, an enchanting sound. Esme gasped when she turned and saw the owner of the voice, in the opposite corner of the room, holding a clipboard against his hip.

"Oh! I..I didn't see you there, sir..er, doctor, um..." Esme stumbled over her words, unable to speak properly in the presence of such a handsome man. She was stunned to see someone in here when she thought she was alone, but it was even more startling to see someone who looked like an angel! How had he been so quiet for her not to notice him until now?

"My name is Dr. Cullen," the tall blond man said quietly as he walked over to her bed and extended his hand. Esme reached out with her smaller one and hesitantly let him shake her hand. His hand was so cold! She almost said something about it, but worried he might think her rude.

"Were you the one who wrapped my leg?" she asked, pointing to her cast.

He blinked and smiled, showing a perfect row of white teeth. "Yes, that would be my doing."

"Well I guess I owe you thanks," she said bashfully. "I might never be able to walk again if you hadn't helped me."

"Whatever happened to hospitals being awful places?" the doctor asked with a smirk.

Esme blushed so much, she was sure her cheeks looked like cherries. "I was just speaking out of frustration," she excused. "Besides I didn't think anyone was listening. I certainly didn't mean to offend you as a doctor."

"No offense taken," he said nonchalantly. She sighed in relief.

The doctor grinned and pulled up a stool close to her bed so he could sit down beside her. "Is it true your cat was the one who got you into this mess?" he looked very amused.

Esme blushed even harder. "Oh, Minnie! She's such a sweet cat, but she really knows how to find her way into the most troublesome situations!"

Dr Cullen shook his head. "Most cats have a knack for that. So what exactly happened?"

"I don't really remember most of it. All I know is that she was up in a tree, and I knew I had to go up after her or else she would stay up there all night. She'd very scared of heights you know."

"Well maybe she'll have learned her lesson for next time."

"I really hope so. Or I might have a second broken leg!"

Dr Cullen laughed. Esme thought the sound of his laughter was magical. He was like something in a fairy story.

"Well Esme, if you ever break your other leg, you'll know who to visit." He winked at her and she felt her heartbeat skip.

"I think I will."

**End of chapter one, well it's really more an intro chapter, but I do want to continue it. Please let me know in a review what you think? :) **


	2. Chapter 2

Five years later, Esme was pregnant with her first baby, and married to an awful man. When her baby was born, she took that as an excuse to leave home and escape her marriage. She lived at her friend's house. Only a few days after the birth of her child, Esme had no idea what was about to happen. Her precious baby boy caught a lung infection and passed away.

I have nothing left to live for Esme thought to herself, as she stood at the edge of a cliff. No one will care about what I'm doing. Esme balanced herself on one foot as she dangled the other over the cliff. She was about to fall when a whipping breeze knocked her off. The next thing she felt was a horrific burning sensation and then sleep came over her.

"Wh..what happened?" Esme groggily questioned her surroundings and realized her attempted suicide had failed. A horrible feeling emerged in the pit of her stomach until a familiar face walked in. But that was the only pain she had felt, surprisingly.

"Good afternoon, Mrs Evenson. How are you feeling?" She recognized the charming doctor as the one who saved her from her last accident.

"A little better. You saved me twice now. What is your full name?" Esme needed to know her savior's name. He only let out a small chuckle.

"Dr. Carlisle Cullen. And yes, I do remember you quite fondly." Esme and Carlisle talked as much as they could whenever Carlisle came to check on her.

Esme was released by Dr. Carlisle Cullen himself later that day. Esme insisted the have dinner together later that night. Esme went to her friend's house and planned on freshening up. She picked out her best clothes and went to her bathroom. She put her clothes on the sink and looked in the mirror. She thought she would need to revisit the hospital for cardiac arrest when she saw her reflection. She had the beauty of a supermodel, no flaws or any signs of her age. Not that she was ugly or old before, but considering she had just jumped off a cliff, she had figured she would be a wreck.

Esme met Carlisle at the fanciest restaurant in town and sat in a corner booth with him.

"What can I get for you two?" The waitress asked.

"I'll take some lemonade, and just a salad." Esme said.

"Nothing for me, thank you." Carlisle handed his menu to the waitress. She left, leaving Esme to talk with Carlisle.

"You're not eating anything tonight?"

"No, and I think you won't be either." Esme made a face, so Carlisle continued. "Well, here's the situation. When you jumped, I had to save you. You had broken your neck, your skull was cracked and you would have been paralyzed from your waist down if you had survived."

"So how come I'm perfectly fine now?"

Carlisle hesitated, but then continued. "Don't be scared from what I'm about to tell you, Esme. Because then, you'll be scared of what you are, too. I had no choice; I had to resort to this. I'm a vampire, and now so are you."

"Wh..what? You're joking, right? There are no such things as vampires!"

"I know you think I'm crazy, but it's true. You fell, and I bit you. Didn't you feel the burning?"

So that was what that was. Esme wondered.

"Once you were bitten you slept for three days. I told everyone at the hospital you were in a coma, to cover for you."

"I don't believe this. You're insane."

"Feel your neck if you don't believe me." Esme touched her neck with two fingers and felt two indents next to each other.

"Okay, so maybe I'm a vampire. Now what?"

The waitress brought Esme her salad and stared at Carlisle a little too long. Esme put her fork in her salad and slowly raised it to her mouth. Carlisle laughed and nodded his head. "It wont kill you, it will just taste bad." Esme put it in her mouth and chewed it. Her face must have been hysterical, because Carlisle laughed even more.

"You don't have to eat it. I'll pay tonight, since I should have told you beforehand."

Carlisle took Esme back to his home to teach her his ways of being a vampire. She caught on quickly, liking the idea that she wouldn't have to kill people. When Carlisle proposed to her two weeks later, Esme thought that being a vampire was the best thing that had happened to her.

**I know it's a little different than the usual way things pan out but I honestly didn't want to go through all the drama of the newborn vamp phase with her. So I bent the rules a little and for the sake of my fic pretended that being a vamp doesn't involve serious lapses in control whenever you're first turned. I hope no one is disappointed by that. I hope I will be able to write another chapter about their marriage. Please review!**


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